Leeds, Leeds, Leeds

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Why has a city of that size not produced more good groups? Can you find you unequivocally like and admire? Wikipedia claims Whitesnake and Wild Beasts are Leeds bands, but that's just rubbish. So sod em. And Embrace were from Huddersfield. So sod em too.

Boyracer! Scritti Politti! But I'll take their absence if that's what it takes to also keep Chumbawamba off the pitch. Nobody's gonna vote for Abrasive Wheels, so I might have to. "Burn 'em Down" is pretty classic. But obviously Gang of 4 is the high-water mark.

Actually, my current favourite musical argument is that Hood (folksy but very mysterious indie band) are England's national answer to Black Metal, especially from the mid-90's onwards. The comparison is extremely seductive.

Hood are great! The noisy early stuff like cabled linear traction, silent '88, and the ep with 'biochemistry revision can wait' have a special place in my heart. From this list I'll go for The Wedding Present.

It's done pretty nicely in the 00s at the "underground" toilet venue circuit level. Over the past decade I have immensely enjoyed Bilge Pump, Quack Quack, randomNumber and Chops, and I'm sure I'm missing a few. I have also tried hard to enjoy Vibracathedral Orchestra and on occasion managed it.

But from that list, it's between the Wedding Present and Gang of Four. Teenage nostalgia probably gives it to the Weddoes (that and the suspicion that Go4 don't need any help).

Between the Three Johns and the Sisters for me. Saw the Johns many times and they were always great, saw the Hussey-era sisters and they were just dull, but strangely, I find myself leaning towards the Sisters. Goth nostalgia and that initial run of EPs and singles.

Oh, and thought LFO were South Yorks. Certainly I was living in Leeds when they first started out, and they were always associated with the Leadmill rather than the Warehouse. Think Nightmares on Wax might have been Leeds, though I may be mistaken.